


When You Smile (Sunshine)

by wistfullywishing



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Acting, Alternate Universe, Best Friends, Dinner dates, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mild Language, Romance, Wedding Rings, baekhyun was a theatre kid in high school, free food, inspired by buzzfeed, jongdae hates wearing a tie, junmyeon is the owner of a restaurant, lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-02 05:45:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11502999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wistfullywishing/pseuds/wistfullywishing
Summary: Diamonds, proposals, and chocolate cake.(Turkish translation by raerimmiehere!)





	1. 2011

**Author's Note:**

> Since I made Jongdae and Baekhyun both get their hearts broken in my last fic I had to make amends with some self-indulgent cute fluff with a happy ending ;)
> 
>  
> 
> Title is from EXO's Baby Don't Cry.

_ 2011 _

Jongdae takes a deep breath - in, out - and tries to stop fidgeting with his empty dinner plate. It’s their first time at a restaurant of this much fanciness, and he’s constantly scared of making an inappropriate-for-the-setting movement, of doing something awkward to ruin the atmosphere. He’s nervous.

In contrast, the boy sitting across the table from him is anything but. He shoots a reassuring smile at Jongdae, leaning over the table to take his hand. 

“What’s wrong?” Baekhyun asks quietly. Jongdae shakes his head. 

“I’m okay,” he promises. He shakes his head again, when Baekhyun still looks slightly unconvinced. In return, Baekhyun drags his long, slender fingers across the back of Jongdae’s hand comfortingly, silently urging him to tell the truth. 

“Honestly?” Jongdae asks, his voice dropping to a whisper. Baekhyun nods for him to continue. “I’m just a bit nervous.” He gestures to the environment around them, the fancy businessmen in three-piece suits and women wearing silk cocktail dresses, the crystal-cut wine glasses making gentle clinks as they’re raised to toasts about cases won and profits made.

“Don’t be,” says Baekhyun, bringing Jongdae’s hand to his mouth and pressing a quick kiss to the inside of his wrist. “We do this all the time - going out for dinner, I mean.”

“Not here,” Jongdae protests. His mind, spinning, makes a quick decision. 

“I’m going to go to the men’s room,” he says before Baekhyun can object. “Be just a moment.” Jongdae gets out of his seat and leans over to drop a light kiss on the side of Baekhyun’s cheek, then makes his way toward the bathroom as quickly as possible. 

\---

Standing in front of the sink, Jongdae looks at himself in the mirror, then loosens his tie just a bit and unbuttons the the top of his shirt. He’s feeling much better, now that he can actually breathe. Whatever made him agree to Baekhyun’s whims this time, he’s never letting Baekhyun talk him into coming here ever again. Or wearing a tie, for that matter.

Jongdae gets back to their table, smiling to himself. Baekhyun is, too. He has on a too-sweet innocent expression that Jongdae knows, having been around him this long, means that Baekhyun is up to something. Around them, the restaurant has come to a quiet lull.

“Why are you looking like that?” Jongdae asks fondly as he sits back down in his chair.

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything in response, just tilts his head with a smirk before sliding out of his chair and getting down on one knee in front of Jongdae’s side of the table. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, Jongdae notices.

“What are you do-” he gets out before his eyes go wide and he feels all the breath in him be knocked out in one swoop. “Oh my god.”

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun says evenly, bringing out a delicate-looking velvet box from his trouser pocket. "I have loved you for every single day of the past six years that we’ve been together. I would really like to continue loving you for the rest of forever, if you’ll let me. Will you marry me?" And he looks so earnest. 

Jongdae takes a moment to consider, just for the fun of it because he already knows what his answer will be. There are many ways this can play out, many lines Jongdae could say in response that Baekhyun probably doesn’t even know he’s capable of delivering. He could burst into tears, or jokingly demand a reason why he should choose to be stuck with Baekhyun for the rest of his life, or even be sappier than Baekhyun would expect and press kisses all over his face. Instead, Jongdae settles for none of the above.

"Yes," it's all he can do to whisper as tears cloud his eyes, threatening to spill as he presses a hand to his mouth and holds out the other for Baekhyun to put the ring on. Cheers erupt in the restaurant, from the other guests all the way to the staff, one of whom is taking photos with Baekhyun’s mobile phone. Baekhyun must have set it up when he was in the bathroom. 

The ring consists of a simple gold band, with the smallest of stones cut and laid in the center, but it’s  _ perfect _ , catching the light and sparkling as Jongdae turns his hand, admiring the way the diamond shines.

He hardly even notices as a free dessert is set in front of them,  _ congratulations  _ written in chocolate drizzle on the platter, until Baekhyun picks up the fork that comes with it and sticks it in the triangle-slice of chocolate cake and then holds the first bite up to Jongdae’s lips. It’s not Jongdae’s fault that he’s unable to stop the tear that falls from his eye and the breathless, half-disbelieving laugh that he lets out, because  _ this is somehow really happening _ . He takes the bite of cake gratefully - it’s delicious, of course - and Baekhyun wipes a stray crumb from the corner of Jongdae’s mouth with his thumb, then meets his eyes and smiles, satisfied. 

They spend the rest of their time in the restaurant feeding each other the decadent, well-sized cake and sharing the rich crème brǔlée, and the rest of the guests can’t even blame them for their stupid-in-love gazes and envy-inspiring, blatant displays of affection. 

The two at the center of all the attention don’t even notice the rest of the world staring at them because to them, there’s no one else but each other in this world.

\---

Leaving the restaurant is a whole other showy affair, with Baekhyun insisting on footing the bill - though technically, they share money anyway - and helping Jongdae put on his coat and otherwise playing the perfect gentleman. Baekhyun then heavily thanks the restaurant staff, both for helping him carry out his proposal and for the free dessert, and the head chef waves at them and makes them promise to come back for their future anniversaries.

As soon as they get outside the doors of the restaurant, Baekhyun tugs Jongdae three steps toward their car before he bursts out with snickers. “Oh my god, you were amazing,” Baekhyun exclaims, wiping tears from his eyes and throwing an arm around Jongdae, who smiles back at him.

“You weren’t so bad yourself, the feeding me cake was a nice touch,” Jongdae responds with a snort. Who would have guessed that Baekhyun participating in theatre back in high school would pay off. “But,” Jongdae hears himself say. “We,” and his voice sounds unconvincing even to himself, “are never doing that again.”

Baekhyun grins. “Yes, we are.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes at him. “Do we look like a couple that much?” He can’t resist the next jab. “As if I’d ever date you, the grossest human being I’ve ever had the pleasure of living with.”

“C’mon, we already have the rings that-look-more-expensive-than-they-are.” Baekhyun grabs Jongdae’s hand and brings it up to his face to study the fake diamond. “Just, maybe not at another super fancy restaurant. But you have to admit, that free dessert was hella worth it.”

It really was; Jongdae can feel his stomach (and appetite) getting restless again just thinking about it. “Fine,” he concedes as they reach the car, wide smile stretching across his face. “But we’re never coming to another restaurant like this again, alright. I can't take all the stuffiness,” he says as he opens the driver’s side door while Baekhyun tosses himself in the passenger’s side seat. As soon as Jongdae sits down, he’s tugging his tie off and throwing it in the backseat.

It’s Baekhyun’s turn to roll his eyes. “You just hate wearing a tie.”

“Yes, I don’t know how you forced me into this one.”

“Because I bribed you.”

“About that-”

“Sure then,” Baekhyun interrupts, agreeing to Jongdae’s previous request and reaching for the stereo after Jongdae turns on the car. “Casual dining next time. Maybe it can be your turn to propose to me.” He pulls out a little, ratty notebook and pen from the glove compartment and flips to a clean page, already planning what restaurants they’ll hit next and humming along to the obnoxious  _ you can call me monster _ ’s that come blaring out of the sound system.

Jongdae reaches for the volume knob and turns it down. “Your music  _ sucks _ .”

“You shut your whore mouth.” 

With a satisfied smirk on his lips, Jongdae reaches for the gear and puts the car in reverse, and is almost done pulling out of the parking space when he’s stopped by a hand on his arm. Baekhyun is halfway through composing a tweet to send off to their friends on Twitter and needs him to spellcheck it, because of that one time he made a typo and Kyungsoo dragged him for it.

“Chanyeol will get a real kick out of this one,” Baekhyun says gleefully, showing him the tweet.

“You're posting it on Twitter?” Jongdae laughs as he looks over. “What if the restaurant sees?”

“Doesn't matter,” Baekhyun says, leaning over to snap a quick selfie of the two of them. Jongdae sticks out his tongue and Baekhyun shoves him and makes him take the photo again. “We’re never coming here again.” He emphasizes his next words with a light punch to Jongdae’s arm. “Now, drive us home so we can sleep off all of that top-notch wine we had.”

And so Jongdae does, shifting the gear into drive and speeding out of the parking lot. “About that bribe. You're doing the laundry for a week since I agreed to doing this here,” he reminds as he steers.

Baekhyun makes a face but grudgingly complies. “You’re the worst roommate and friend ever,” he complains.

“I'm the  _ best  _ friend ever and you know it,” Jongdae argues. And he is, at least for Baekhyun.

When they get to a red stoplight, Jongdae takes his eyes off the road ahead for just one second to look at Baekhyun, who’s already asleep and snoring with his head lolling against the window, his face cutely scrunched up. He sees Baekhyun’s phone screen light up with a notification in the darkness and takes the phone out of the cup holder between their seats, unlocking it to read all of the attention Baekhyun’s tweet has already gotten. The light from the small screen reflects in the fake rock on his hand, and he flexes his fingers just for the purpose of watching it glimmer. 

Jongdae drops the phone back in the compartment just as the stoplight turns green, and he removes his foot from the brake and steps on the accelerator, all the while feeling the warmth in his heart grow. 


	2. 2017

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone who read pt 1 and left really sweet comments! i hope you enjoy pt. 2 <3

_ 2017 _

Approximately three years after Jongdae and Baekhyun start dating, and six years after they started conning eateries out of expensive food, Jongdae allows his boyfriend to stuff him in a tie again because Baekhyun promised his friend Junmyeon that they'd make an appearance at the restaurant he owns. 

“Why did Junmyeon insist on a formal dress code,” Jongdae whines as Baekhyun is doing up his tie, practiced fingers skillfully forming the knot with ease. Jongdae never learned how to properly tie the stupid thing himself because he preferred when Baekhyun did it for him - it was very domestic - and  _ yes _ , that’s the only reason why he doesn’t know how.

“So that rich people will come to his restaurant and fall in love with his head chef’s cooking, and subsequently tip extra and tell all their rich friends and he can make a lot of money,” answers Baekhyun flatly without even even batting an eyelash. “Junmyeon has the money-making process down to a T.” His deft fingers finish working the silk and he smooths Jongdae’s shirt down the front of his chest (probably just as an excuse to touch him). “Anyway, you look  _ so  _ handsome.” Baekhyun smiles (exaggeratedly) and pats Jongdae’s cheek (condescendingly), and Jongdae tries to bite his hand off. 

Baekhyun manages to remove his hand from near Jongdae’s face and the vicinity of his teeth just in time for him to keep his fingers. Immediately, his eyes narrow and then he puts on a pouty face. 

“This is what I get for adoring you?” he snaps. “I should just let you look ugly.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes before pulling his boyfriend in for a hug. He's honestly only a smidge shorter than Baekhyun, but even though he hates feeling small, he never feels uncomfortable in Baekhyun’s arms. “But, you know I'd never be ugly anyway.”

“No,” Baekhyun agrees happily. “That's why you're mine.” He tilts his face just a little to plant a soft kiss on Jongdae’s nose and Jongdae is thinking of purposefully putting wrinkles in Baekhyun’s shirt and canceling their reservations but then Baekhyun takes Jongdae’s hand and drags him out the door. 

Jongdae manages to drive them to Junmyeon’s restaurant safely and without killing anyone even though Baekhyun’s hand is resting on his thigh the entire way there. 

\---

“This chicken is nice,” Jongdae says, not bothering to look up from Baekhyun's incessant kicking under the table.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun says.

“What am I saying though, of course it’s amazing,” Jongdae continues on, cutting into his food with his table knife. “Kyungsoo prepared it.”

Baekhyun stomps on his foot. “Jongdae.”

“What,” says Jongdae, still eating, but allowing Baekhyun part of his attention.

“Marry me,” says Baekhyun.

“I-” Jongdae’s fork misses the chicken on his plate and instead he stabs empty air and winces as the clash of metal on ceramic produces a harsh grating noise. The knife falls from his grip and clatters loudly on his plate, just adding to his embarrassment. He looks up sharply, wide eyed and mouth open in surprise. “What did you sa-”

Baekhyun tugs on Jongdae’s hand and brings it towards himself. "I said,” he doesn’t even let Jongdae finish,  _ the nerve _ , rubbing the back of his hand gently, a familiar gesture that does little to tame the thrashing of Jongdae’s heart in his ribcage. “Marry me." 

Baekhyun looks serious, and Jongdae is so caught off guard that words refuse to come to his mind, and he just blinks and stares and feels very stupid.

"What?" he asks again, carefully, in case he didn’t hear correctly. He’s trying to get his message across to Baekhyun, trying to see if it's nothing but an act again. His heart constricts once with fear and another time again with confusion because they didn't talk it out this time, they haven't even done this in so long, and does Baekhyun expect him to play along? Is that what this is? Once more for old time's sake?  _ Why would you do this at your friend’s restaurant? _ is what Jongdae actually wants to scream.

Baekhyun bites his lower lip, finally looking unsure. “I asked you to marry me.” Actually, Baekhyun didn’t ask a question for once, like how he used to, but instead calmly issued a command, like maybe the illusion of one would prevent Jongdae from ever saying no.

“Well, technically, you didn’t really ask. I mean, you kind of just demanded.” That’s not what Jongdae meant to say, but there. At least it’s something. He’s speaking. Actual words. Even if his voice rose a bit with both hysterics and panic.

Baekhyun sighs loudly, but he doesn’t look put off. He tilts his head, flicking a stray bit of hair out of his face, and smiles sheepishly at Jongdae, a slant of his mouth, a biting of his lip (again). “I'm sorry, I was going to do this the right way and everything - I had it planned out, I swear, but then, you were just looking so at ease and  _ beautiful  _ and normal and this is how we  _ are  _ \- and I, I just couldn’t help…” he trails off nervously before sucking in a breath and gaining some courage back. “Marry me,” Baekhyun says again, unwavering, still managing to smile. The rest of the restaurant has long gone silent around them. 

"This isn’t a joke, right," Jongdae says softly, because one can never be too sure in the presence of Byun Baekhyun, because he wants to do what Baekhyun is suggesting so badly but he has to make sure. His heart should be pounding but it isn’t anymore; rather, it’s slowing down like it’s forgotten how to pump blood, like Jongdae’s body is forgetting how it’s supposed to work when Baekhyun is looking at him like  _ that _ .

Baekhyun probably senses that the flighting emotions in Jongdae’s blown-wide eyes are struggling to take over his brain because he smiles wider at once, the gorgeous sunny smile that shows his teeth and never fails to put Jongdae’s emotions to rest. "For real this time," Baekhyun leans over the table to whisper, lips curving to the side to quirk up at one corner, because he already knows what Jongdae is going to say like it's never been a question. And maybe it’s this expression that snaps Jongdae back into reality, back into what they  _ are _ .

“Do it right,” Jongdae says, pushing Baekhyun back a bit and letting a little laugh of wonder escape between his lips. Baekhyun goes  _ gladly,  _ he stands up and walks to Jongdae’s side of the booth, then gets down on one knee and pulls out a ring. It's an exact replica of the ring that they first used to fake proposals, only the diamond in the center is very much real this time. 

Jongdae goes dizzy with déjà vu because he's seen this scene so many times but never like  _ this _ , never unexpectedly without talking it out and planning every detail beforehand. He doesn’t even have time to wonder when Baekhyun had time to get the ring made before Baekhyun is speaking, and Jongdae wants to film this moment with his eyes and preserve it on a cinematic reel in his heart  _ forever _ .

“Kim Jongdae,” Baekhyun says simply, looking up at him. “I love you more than you will ever be able to understand. Will  _ you,  _ do  _ me,  _ Byun Baekhyun, the honor of being my husband?” 

"Is there even a choice," Jongdae says, breathless - how many times has Baekhyun made him lose his breath? He’s never going to be able to breathe normally again - and half pulls, half drags Baekhyun by his collar up to meet his mouth. "Yes, yes,  _ of course _ , yes," he murmurs against Baekhyun’s lips. “I love you, too.” 

“It really is kind of six years this time, for real.” Baek hums in wonder, and then Jongdae is shutting him up. The restaurant goes wild.

\---

Later, the owner of the restaurant and Baekhyun’s friend from college, Junmyeon, personally comes by to offer the dessert menu and congratulate them on their engagement.

“If we order dessert, can it be free?” Baekhyun muses, eyes glinting and taking the menu from Junmyeon’s hand. 

Junmyeon frowns. “You know I can’t do that, with that trend a few years back of people faking proposals to get free stuff. It would just set a bunch of actors upon my restaurant.”

“Aw, Joonie, c’mon. It’s good for business!”

“Sorry,” Junmyeon says cheerfully, not sounding sorry at all. He ruffles Baekhyun’s hair fondly. “We can hold the  _ congratulations  _ party here, instead. I’ll call everyone and Kyungsoo can do the catering,” he promises them, when it occurs to him to be curious, and he cocks his head to the side. “I wonder what started that old trend, anyway.”

"Yes," Baekhyun agrees in amusement, taking Jongdae's hand - now adorned with a multi-thousand dollar sparkly rock - and lacing their fingers. "I wonder what started that."

They do end up ordering dessert - chocolate cake for old time’s sake - and they actually pay for it for once.

And maybe,  _ just maybe _ , Baekhyun is able to persuade Jongdae to wear a tie for the third time so they can go back to the restaurant where it all started for their one-year anniversary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ending lowkey implied that they were the ones who started up the trend when baek’s tweet went viral lol

**Author's Note:**

> (let's be friends on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/wistfullywishes)! ♡)


End file.
